Possible stupid question: Why was Cheney firing so low?

[Stevendsmith]

How could you be aiming for a quail in flight and hit a man standing on the ground?

Was the quail perhaps just lifting off?

[medeak]

1. quail don't fly high

they usually just coast over shrubs to find new cover

[MercutioATC]

2. Allegedly, the quail had just been flushed.

That would make them close to the ground (and is, by the way, the way quail are hunted...it's not like shooting ducks that are already in flight well above the ground).

[jus_the_facts]

3. Quail roost on the ground....

:hi:

[Rick Myers]

4. These farm raised quail almost never fly.

When flushed, they do fly pretty low. But, that is no excuse.

[The_Casual_Observer]

6. Particularly when their little wings have been clipped.

[lonestarnot]

16. but the big one he shot didn't have wings.

[Stevendsmith]

5. Ah, thanks. God, I hate animal killing! (n/t)

[frustrated_lefty]

7. No-no

The great white hunter was shooting at farm raised birds. For some reason, I have this mental image of Lassie's evil twin herding hundreds of flightless fowl back and forth in front of Darth to shoot at his leisure.

[MrMonk]

10. I have that image from some movie or other

of peasants dressed as birds running along the ground as effeminate noble shoot at them.

[Beaverhausen]

8. Well, he was drunk and firing at whatever moved

Mr. Whittington happened to be in the way.

[rocktivity]

9. My question is, what does coming up behind Cheney have to do with it?

Cheney would have had to turn completely around to hit Whittington flush like that. I don't understand how Cheney could not have seen him before he aimed.

:shrug:
rocknation

[hexola]

12. Yeah - I dont get that detail...any hunters explain...

It sounds like Cheney wheeled around during the flush and ended up firing in Whiffingtons direction...

[Frank Cannon]

15. No hunter can explain it

Because every hunter knows that you LOOK at what you're shooting before you shoot it.

Cheney wasn't in the jungles of Vietnam. He didn't need to wheel around and blast at whatever made a sound that startled him, if that is even in fact what he did.

[cliss]

18. Yes, that's a very good point.

I think this story has as many holes in it as Mr. Whittington (sorry - I couldn't help it).

If Whittington came up behind Cheney, so what? Does that mean that Cheney had to turn around and shoot? There was no danger from the quail. And as the story goes, Cheney was standing about 30 yards from Whittington when he fired. So again, the story makes no sense at all.

[ConcernedCanuk]

11. A human heart is about 4 feet off the ground

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Average man is just under six feet tall

Aiming 2 feet below a man's head and not seeing him is FNI

(Friggen Near Impossible)

Think about it . . .

[ewoden]

13. Krimeny the guy was wearing blaze orange hat and vest.

[ConcernedCanuk]

14. Quail disguise themselves like that all the time doncha know?

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And they fly right at the height of a human heart

That's common knowledge . . .

:eyes:

[tridim]

17. Exactly why I think the story is 100% BS

Who knows what really happened, but we can speculate, and we will until we get the truth. Assuming he didn't shoot him on purpose (which alarmingly is not out of the question IMO), maybe Dick's gun discharged in the SUV, Pulp Fiction style. Or maybe he accidentally pulled the trigger with his gun resting on his shoulder.

[lonestarnot]

19. He was in a stance position according the the citation.

[tridim]

21. The information on the citation came from Cheney and his SS no?

Read, the citation says what Cheney wanted it to say, 24 hours after the incident.

[progressivebydesign]

20. Quail are just the prettiest, most docile birds.. : (

Hate to see penile-challenged old men trying to kill them to get their jollies.